Previous Posts: articles 2023
Webinar with Rijksmuseum Scientist
May 6 2020
Picture: Rijksmuseum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Institute of Conservation (ICON) is running a free webinar today on 'Metal Soaps in Art'.
It's far more interesting than it might first sound, as the webinar's overview points out;
Old master paintings as well as modern and contemporary art are subjected to changes from the moment they have been made. Discoloration, increased transparency and darkening, crumbling of the paint, paint delamination and loss: these are just some of the degradation phenomena encountered on oil paintings. This presentation focusses on the wide-spread degradation phenomena that is related to pigment-oil binder interactions, which are metal soaps. Metal soap related defects are observed in paintings by amongst others Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer and Piet Mondrian. Approximately 70% of paintings in museum collections are affected by metal soap-related degradation
This online lecture will by Dr Katrien Keune, Head of Science at the Rijksmuseum. It starts at 4.00pm UK time (6th May 2020), and you don't have to be a member of ICON to join (although registration is required).
Courtauld Watercolours Online
May 6 2020
Picture: The Courtauld Gallery via. Watercolour World
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Courtauld Gallery in London has uploaded 400+ images of its drawings and watercolours to the fantastic Watercolour World. This resource is invaluable for researchers as well as admirers of these works on paper. The search engine is very easy to use and the high-resolution images fantastic to zoom into. The website claims that it has uploaded 4,000 new images in the last week alone.
Germany Reopens Museums
May 6 2020
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Germany has started to reopen its museums this week. There are strong measures in place to reduce any risk to members of the public. This includes mandatory face masks, social distancing, online bookings only and limited numbers into galleries at any one time. Specific routes around rooms have also been introduced. A very useful exercise for British institutions to learn from when the time comes to reopen museums here (whenever that may be).
The NPG are hiring!
May 5 2020
Picture: NPG
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Portrait Gallery in London are looking for a part-time 'Curator, Missing Narratives on Women.'
As the gallery's website explains;
The post holder will conduct a three-year research project to identify gaps in the collection with an emphasis on female sitters and artists. In addition, the post holder will work with the curatorial team on acquisitions and the Gallery’s Contemporary Commissions programme with the aim of filling gaps in the permanent collection that have been identified within the Inspiring People Missing Narratives research project.
The role is 24 hours (3 days) per week with a salary of £18,469 per annum.
Of equal interest is that the role is being funded by the luxury fashion brand CHANEL (you would have thought more money might have been found to make the role full time?). Considering the NPG's recent ethical awakening in rejecting money from oil and pharma companies (see below), let's hope they've thought through the implications of this partnership.
Applications close on 25th May 2020.
MET Publications Online
May 5 2020
Picture: MET
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Forgive me if this has appeared on AHN in the past but this is a fantastic resource worth highlighting again. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York have published decades worth of their publications online and are completely free to access (some new titles are preview only). This includes books, exhibition catalogues and the museum's journal.
The Getty Museum established an equivalent system as far back as 2014.
Seller's Remorse?
May 4 2020
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Some rather unusual news has emerged regarding a Rubens that was sold at Christie's in 2018. The picture above, A Satyr holding a Basket of Grapes and Quinces with a Nymph (c.1620), was purchased at auction by billionaire entrepreneur Sean Parker on behalf of his charitable foundation for around $6m ($4.8m hammer).
After the auction the picture's consigner Debra Turner expressed remorse and decided to 'cancel' the sale. Christie's then proceeded with arbitration to resolve the matter. Their recent conclusion was that the auction house had fulfilled their contractual obligations and thus the Rubens had been successfully acquired by the winning bidder. They are now seeking to confirm the arbitration's award in the federal courts.
Most curiously, the picture has been removed from the auction house's website (Christie's, New York, 19 April 2018, lot 41).
National Trust Collections Annual
May 4 2020
Picture: National Trust
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Trust Historic Houses & Collections Annual has been made freely available online via. the National Trust website. The annual contains in depth articles and features of various pieces of research and news relating to their collections. Previous editions go back to 2015.
Friends Reunited at the MET
May 4 2020
Picture: MET
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has reunited portraits of two significant artistic friends. This historic reunion was made possible by the donation of Antoine Jean Gros's Self Portrait (left) from the collection of Karen B. Cohen in celebration of the museum's 150th anniversary. Gros's self portrait is intended to be hung along the artist's picture of his friend and painter François Gérard (right) executed at the same time.
The full story is found in La Tribune de l'Art.
National Portrait Gallery Sheds BP Judge
May 4 2020
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Portrait Gallery in London has announced that BP will no longer be represented on the judging panel of its prestigious portrait award. It seems that this was in response to protests from pressure groups demanding that the gallery should end all links with the oil company. (pictured) This position on the gallery's judging panel was usually taken up by BP's head of art culture and sport Des Violaris.
Readers might remember that in 2019 the NPG turned down a £1m grant from the Sackler Trust on what seemed to be similarly ethical grounds.
Before and After
May 4 2020
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
There was an interesting image posted onto Twitter last week (via Maaike Dirkx @RembrandtsRoom) of a portrait that was recently sold at Sotheby's.
A portrait of a gentleman standing beside a framed portrait of a lady (right), which appeared in the recent Rafael Valls sale at Sotheby's, actually appeared in auction at Sotheby's NY in 2013. The image on the left shows how the painting appeared in the 2013 sale before the picture was conserved.
Curiously, you'll notice that someone had chosen to paint out the gentleman's arm at a later date. We may only speculate as to why this may have been done. Perhaps the composition wasn't considered appealing enough in a previous age. Many paintings 'restorers' of past centuries often carried out such alterations to pictures that didn't meet the aesthetic standards of certain owners or dealers. It's wonderful to see that in this case this alteration was entirely reversable.
The Future of Museums and Technology - Panel Discussions
April 30 2020
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Arts Newspaper and Factum Foundation have teamed up to organise a series of three panel discussions between 1 - 3 May 2020. The panels consist of some of the museum world's leading figures, and is entirely free to watch on YouTube at 17.00 BST (the video above will become live tomorrow).
The three discussions are as follows;
Friday 1st May: The Future of Museums, Exhibitions and the Objects They Display. (Chaired by Sir Charles Saumarez Smith CBE)
Saturday 2nd May: The Circulation of Objects: the Politics of Recording, Training, Preserving and Sharing. (Chaired by Simon Schaffer)
Sunday 3rd May: An Intimacy with the Physical World: New Technologies Generating New Knowledge. (Chaired by Sir Ian Blatchford)
The Factum Foundation have even made their recent publication The Aura in the Age of Digital Materiality; Rethinking Preservation in the Shadow of an Uncertain Future free to read online.
France Sells Off Furniture to Fund Hospitals
April 30 2020
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Guardian have reported on news that the Mobilier National, the national French furniture collection, is selling off some one hundred pieces of furniture to fund hospitals. Bizarrely, they have picked items specifically from the reign of Louis-Philippe between the years 1830-48.
Furniture, despite being of enormous value and importance in the decorative arts, seems to be much more easily abandoned than paintings. The loss of such pieces can have dramatic and sad consequences for the integrity of historic interiors. By the looks of the accompanying press picture, these pieces were removed from their original setting long ago. Equally, it is much more difficult to store furniture than canvases on stretchers. No pictures mentioned of course this time, but might they be next in line?
Museum Measures in the Age of Covid-19
April 30 2020
Picture: The Royal Museums of Fine Arts
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Belgium have posted a set of measures they will be introducing when they reopen on 19th May.
Here are some of them;
- We will introduce a quota per hour to spread the number of visitors safely throughout the day. If you buy a ticket online, you will be asked to choose a timeslot. You can start your visit up to one hour after this. Please respect your chosen timeslot.
- A one-way circuit through the museum will be outlined. Please stick to the trail.
- Inside the museum, the rules of social distancing should be applied. We therefore ask visitors to keep a distance of at least 1.5 metres.
- Depending on the size of the rooms, more or less people will be admitted simulatneously. The allowed number will always be indicated at the entrance of each room.
- Out of concern for both visitors and staff, we currently only accept payment by card at the ticket desk.
- In order to reduce the risk of contamination, we do not offer audio guides.
The Art Newspaper have also published an article on the news that smaller museums in Paris will be reopening from 11th May. Larger museums look set to reopen later in June.
Getty Museum's Acquisitions on Google Arts
April 29 2020
Picture: Getty Museum via Google Arts & Culture
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Getty Museum have teamed up with Google Arts & Culture to create a little exhibition of slides showcasing the highlights of acquisitions made in 2019. Naturally, the extremely high quality images make such an impact that it's hard not to be completely absorbed by them. What better way to entrance and engage audiences with newly acquired works.
The image above is a detail from their recently acquired study by Annibale Carracci. Carracci sometimes painted on top of old ledger sheets, and here one can see the writing appearing through the thinly painted parts of her eyes. There is another comparable sketch in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, a painting that is usually hung up so high that you can't appreciate it properly (if memory serves).
Damien Hirst's Spots Severed
April 29 2020
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A Brooklyn based collective of artists and designers known as MSCHF have made news by cutting up a painting by Damien Hirst. The group recently purchased one of the British artist's famous Spot Paintings for $30,000 and proceeded to cut it up into individual works which they have re-branded as Severed Spots. They are selling each of the 88 spots at $480 dollars a piece, which will raise $42,240 if they manage to sell them all.
Cutting up artworks is nothing new. There are many interesting examples to be found in the world of old masters. One might remember the 'Hand of God' drawing by Michelangelo, a fragment from a larger study for the Sistine Chapel that somebody decided was worth cutting out (and has since be restored). In 2018 Christie's sold a cut-out drawing by Lucas van Leyden from Rugby School for a staggering £11.4m (including fees).
This regularly happened to paintings too, especially ones that had been damaged or were considered commercially unattractive. This project has reconstructed several images of large eighteenth century paintings that were exhibited at Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery and now only survive in fragments (head to section IX).
Auction Houses becoming Art Dealers (ctd.)
April 29 2020
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
ArtDaily has reported on launch of the Sotheby's Gallery Network, an online platform that allows trusted partners to sell through sothebys.com. Although this particular venture seems to be relevant for modern and contemporary art galleries, the auction house are also selling Old Master Paintings in a similar manner through their Private Sales page (as per my previous post).
As the article explains;
Sotheby’s Gallery Network will help its partners to make immediate sales during these unprecedented times, by utilizing both the auction house's extensive digital reach and their full-service transactional platform.
Sotheby’s Gallery Network will provide each of its partners with a bespoke online presence, featuring a digital viewing room of property available for immediate sale at publicly-listed prices. Purchases of works valued up to $150,000 can be completed with ease as point-of-sale transactions on Sotheby’s online platform.
All works listed by its partners through the Gallery Network are offered exclusively through Sotheby’s, with the auction house's standards of scholarship and authenticity applying to all works on offer
Let's wait and see how this venture fares.
British Art Journal - Wellington Portrait at Eton
April 29 2020
Picture: Eton College
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
There's an interesting article that has appeared in the recent edition of the British Art Journal concerning an overlooked portrait of the Duke of Wellington by Sir Thomas Lawrence. The picture, in the collection of Eton College, had been dismissed by many scholars as a straightforward copy and thus ignored in much of the Lawrence literature.
However, as art historian Dominic Sanchez-Cabello writes, newly discovered correspondence from the college's archive has suggested otherwise. Surviving letters indicate that the Duke "would not present a copy [to Eton's Provost] but would sit for a new one", suggesting that a new painting in Lawrence's own hand would be sent. This new attribution has been endorsed by Dr Brian Allen, Chairman of the Hazlitt Group.
By the way, much of the college's art collection has been digitised and is well worth combing through.
Technical Analysis of Girl with the Pearl Earing
April 28 2020
Video: The Mauritshuis
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Mauritshuis in the Hague have published some recent technical analysis undertaken on Vermeer's Girl with the Pearl Earing. This in-depth research has lead to some interesting findings, including that this enigmatic figure was originally painted in front of a green curtain. The video above, made by Mauritshuis conservator Abbie Vandivere, explains some of the technical aspects of the painting's condition.
Kauffman Show Cancelled
April 28 2020
Picture: The Royal Academy
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Royal Academy have taken the 'difficult decision' to cancel their upcoming show on the painter Angelica Kauffman RA (1741-1807). This exhibition was due to run from 27 June - 20 September 2020. The RA's upcoming Cezanne expo has been shelved too. It seems, however, that the modern performance artist Marina Abramović's exhibition has been rescheduled from 2020 till autumn 2021. A shame the same couldn't be done with Kauffman's, but I'm sure they had their reasons.
Waldy & Bendy - the Podcast
April 26 2020
Picture: The Sunday Times
Posted by Bendor Grosvenor
I'm doing a new podcast for the Sunday Times with Waldemar Januszczak, the broadcaster and art critic. It's called Waldy and Bendy's Adventures in Art. Each week we discuss something meaty, like 'was Leonardo actually any good?', recommend some cultural things for you to do during the lockdown, and fantasise about building our own private lockdown collections.
This week we've been discussing Caravaggio, and also, in an interview with the Wallace Collection director Xavier Bray, wonder how museums are coping during the enforced closure (answer, not especially well, from the all-important financial point of view). Xavier wonders if entrance fees might even have to be reintroduced, such is the hit to the bottom line.
Each episode is free to listen to, but you have to go onto the Sunday Times website. Click on the photo of me and Waldemar to play the podcast.
About twenty years ago I remember bumping into Waldemar at a Christie's South Kensington viewing, when I was just starting out in the art game. I thought then he was brilliant, both as a writer and a presenter, and told him so. I still think he's brilliant, and can't quite believe we're doing a podcast together.
